Headline: “?$17 billion were transferred over the last 10 years in order to provide for the needs of the Gaza Strip’ – Hamdallah: Some of the wage additions were cut in the salaries of the Gaza employees; Hamas is taking all of the revenue and spending it only on itself”
“[PA] Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said: ‘The [PA] government has decided to take austerity measures on the expenses since last year [2016] in the West Bank. The first sector in which they began was the security sector, whose expenses were reduced by 25%. In addition, the budgets of many sectors were reduced due to the 70% drop in foreign aid. We are suffering from a large financial crisis.’ He added: ‘The base salaries of the [public] employees in the Gaza Strip were not harmed, but rather some of the wage additions were cut, while some of them were left intact. This is so that we will be able to manage the financial crisis from which we are suffering.’ Hamdallah continued: ‘We demand that Hamas give the Gaza Strip to the legal leadership (i.e., Fatah), as Hamas is taking all of the revenue and spending it only on itself, while we are fulfilling all of our obligations towards the members of our people in the Gaza Strip...”Click to view bulletin

Headline: "The [PA] government: The deductions from the Gazan employees’ salaries are a temporary step"
"The [PA] national unity government explained that the deductions from the [public] employees’ salaries included only the additions and part of the addition for the nature of the work, without any harm to the basic salary.
The reason for this is the suffocating financial siege imposed on the occupied State of Palestine, in addition to the consequences of the [Fatah-Hamas] rift, the [Israeli] blockade [of Gaza], and the occupation's terrible steps.
Official [PA] Government Spokesman Yusuf Al-Mahmoud said: 'This is a temporary step that will not include the social [welfare] allowances and the humanitarian aid.' He emphasized that the pressures being applied to the Palestinian leadership, including the financial pressures that are expressed in the reduction of the external aid (i.e., Western donors) by approximately 70% compared to previous years, have forced the government to take such steps in order to guarantee the continued payment of the salaries. He also emphasized that this step is part of the national policy to deal with the financial difficulties.
The official spokesman added that the government has explained that the continued [Fatah-Hamas] rift and the steps taken by the acting government in the southern districts (i.e., the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip), including rebellion against the constitutional court, operating the executive committee that has begun to act as a parallel government, and the fact that the Hamas movement continues to gather the revenues and control them without returning them to the [PA] Treasury - all of these have negatively affected the financial situation and escalated the financial crisis to the point that we have reached. This is particularly so in light of the fact that all of this is taking place under the Israeli blockade [of Gaza] and occ

Headline: “[PA] Minister Abu Shahla spoke with Donia Al-Watan about the salaries, financial crisis, electricity, temporary positions, and early pension”
“[PA] Minister of Labor Ma’moun Abu Shahla said that the [PA] national unity government has a monthly revenue of 900 million [Israeli] shekels, and its monthly expenditures exceed 1.15 billion shekels. He noted that the unity government suffers from a [monthly] financial deficit that stands at 250 million shekels.
Dr. Abu Shahla added in a special interview with [the independent Palestinian news agency] Donia Al-Watan: ‘Some think that the international aid reaches the Palestinian government continuously… There were promises that the aid would reach five billion [dollars], and it started to drop until in 2015 it reached approximately 700 million dollars, and in 2016 not even 450 million [dollars] reached us.’ …
Dr. Abu Shahla emphasized that the most important thing for the government is the timely payment of the salaries, as they must be paid on the first of the month, and the unity government has not been late [in paying] the salaries by even one day. Despite [the fact that] the government’s revenue mainly arrives from its own sources alongside the international aid that reaches 10% of the general budget; despite the ongoing pressure of the international community that it is not possible to pay the salaries of the [public] employees in Gaza who are not working; and despite the threats of the World Bank and the European Union to stop the economic aid for the salaries, the government has committed itself to pay all of the salaries, and we will not stop anyone’s salary.”

Headline: “Did Obama’s money reach the Palestinians?”
“New American President [Donald Trump] - upon his entry to the White House and almost as part of the first decision he made - froze an amount of $220 million that was allocated for aid to the Palestinians, and which his predecessor former [US] President Barack Obama had released a short time before leaving the White House [on Jan. 20, 2017].
According to what was reported on the Hebrew [news] website Arutz Sheva on Thursday [March 9, 2017], American State Department Spokesman Mark Toner spoke during a press briefing about how most of this money was instead transferred for humanitarian purposes in the PA and in the Gaza Strip, while part of it was transferred to Israeli bodies to which the PA owes money. ‘The money was not transferred directly to the PA, but rather to bodies that provide services,’ emphasized Mark Toner in his response to one journalist's question.”

“[PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Strategic Affairs Dr. Husam Zomlot… emphasized that the PA is transferring approximately $1.3 billion a year to the Gaza Strip, most of which goes to covering the salaries that stand at approximately $840 million a year. This is in addition to $100 million for aid to socially poor families, and $82 million for the allowances (mukhassasat) of [the families of] the Martyrs (Shahids), of the prisoners, and of the wounded [in Gaza].”

Headline: "Hamdallah: We will not exchange our national enterprise for any money"
"[PA] Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said: 'The conditions under which we are working are unusual and difficult: The foreign aid has decreased by a rate of 70%, and despite this we have overcome these conditions and international reports praise the functioning of the [PA] government.'
Hamdallah added: 'We demand that the [international] community press Israel to allow investments in the territories called [Area] C (i.e., areas of the West Bank under full Israeli administration according to the Oslo Accords), which constitute a financial source worth $3.5 billion a year if we invest in it, according to the World Bank. We will not exchange our basic policies for any money, as [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas said. We demand that the occupation on our land be ended, and there is no retreat from the two-state solution in order to achieve our independence and our state.’"

Headline: “The government of Japan declares new aid for the Palestinian people”
“The government of Japan yesterday [Feb. 12, 2017] in a press statement declared additional financial aid to the Palestinian people in the amount of $46,688,925, [which will be transferred] through international organizations and Japanese non-governmental organizations.
The new package includes humanitarian aid through UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), aid for the [PA] general budget through the Palestinian Recovery and Development Program Trust Fund (PRDP) that belongs to the World Bank, and also support for infrastructure initiatives, particularly in the Jericho Agro-Industrial Park, through the UNDP (UN Development Programme)…
According to the statement, the total Japanese aid stands at $1.8 billion since 1993.”

"At its weekly meeting that was held yesterday [Feb. 7, 2017] in Ramallah, led by [PA Prime Minister] Rami Hamdallah… the [PA] government expressed its thanks and appreciation for the regular aid of the European [Union] as the largest donor to the PA since its establishment. The prime minister emphasized that he has made great efforts for more than a year to get the EU to change its decision to adopt a new policy on everything regarding the financial aid to the Gaza Strip in 2017, manifested by stopping the allocation of the European aid money for the payment of salaries of PA employees in the Gaza Strip... The prime minister elaborated that at the moment the EU is paying the salaries of 17,000 civilian [PA] employees in the Gaza Strip, at an average of 1,000 [Israeli] shekels a month, while the government is responsible for paying the salaries of the rest of the civilian employees, who number 11,000, in addition to the difference in the salaries due to all of the civilian employees, and in addition to all of the salaries of the 35,000 military PA employees (i.e., PA police, Presidential Guard, National Security Forces) in the Gaza Strip. He emphasized that the government is committed to continuing to pay the salaries of the PA employees in Gaza, and noted that the European decision will increase the financial burden and cause an additional deficit to the general [PA] budget, which as it is suffers from a deficit of $39 million a month in 2017."

"The government welcomed the visit of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel to Palestine, which he made in order to meet with Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. The government thanked and expressed its appreciation for the government of Belgium and the Belgian people for the aid that they give directly to the Palestinian people and the PA through the EU, which stood at 71 million euros for 2012-2015."

Official PA TV program The Economic Magazine, economic news briefsOfficial PA TV reporter: “The total amount of external aid to the general budget and the development budget in 2016 was approximately 2.9 billion shekels, as compared to approximately 3.1 billion shekels in the same period of 2015. In other words, a decrease of 6%. Arab states gave 814 million shekels, while the foreign donor states gave 1.5 billion shekels, and the donor states also gave 588 million shekels to the development budget.”

“Senior American officials revealed that the administration of previous [US] President Barack Obama secretly transferred to the PA a sum totaling $221 million in its final hours.
The AP [news] agency quoted sources in the American administration as saying that this was aid whose transfer to the Palestinians was prevented by the Republican party (i.e., by Republican members of Congress due to the PA’s unilateral moves to join international organizations, in violation of the 1993 Oslo Accords).
However, the Obama administration transferred the monies while bypassing the opposition of the Republicans, and informed Congress of the plans to transfer the sum last Friday morning [Jan. 20, 2017], a few hours before the beginning of [US President] Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony. One of the senior officials said that previous American Secretary of State John Kerry informed several members of Congress about this step immediately after he left the American State Department on Thursday evening, but the written announcement on this matter only reached Congress on Friday morning…
The Congress originally agreed to send the aid to the Palestinians as part of the American State Department budget for the fiscal year of 2015/2016, but a number of the Republican members of Congress, including Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee [Ed Royce] and Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee (sic., House Appropriations Committee member Kay Granger ), succeeded in delaying the process of transferring the money, after the PA tried to obtain membership in a number of international organizations.”

PMW note: According to media reports, the transfer of the $221 million has been frozen and is under review by the Trump administration.

“The [PA] government continued to discuss the general budget proposal of the State of Palestine for the 2017 financial year. According to the forecasts, the gross income will stand at 13.72 billion [Israeli] shekels (25.6% of the GDP) [parentheses in source], that is to say an increase of 6% compared to 2016…
The net total of expenses and loans is expected to reach 16.1 billion shekels in 2017, an increase of just 1% compared to 2016. The cost of salaries and wages is expected to reach 8.1 billion shekels (15.1% of the GDP) [parentheses in source], an increase of 3.1% compared to 2015 (sic., should be 2016)…
According to these figures, the joint deficit is expected to reach 2.76 billion shekels, a decrease of 18% compared to 2016. Together with the expected development projects, whose cost is 1.36 billion shekels, the total deficit is expected to reach 4.12 billion shekels, a decrease of 9% compared to 2016.
Regarding the foreign funding supporting the budget, it is not expected to exceed $500 million, and $92 million for funding development projects through the treasury’s coffers.
Regarding paying the debt balances, $300 million will be allocated for payment of the debt balances to the private sector. Therefore, as a result of the great decrease in the foreign funding for the budget, the funding gap will stand at $765 million, which will obligate the government to take austerity measures in all fields.”

Interview with Voice of Palestine Radio, posted on Facebook page of Palestinian Authority PM Rami Hamdallah, on Dec. 8, 2016.PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah: "Since last year, there is a financial siege on the Palestinian government. The aid has decreased greatly, reaching a drop of 62% compared to 2011. For example, let's speak frankly, the US approved $263 million in 2016 as aid to the government. Look, 2016 is about to end, no shekel or agora, or dinar or dollar has been paid, if we speak frankly. We hope that this aid money will be paid. There are also many [other] countries that have not supplied their aid. The countries that have given their aid, and we always thank them, are the European Union, which always [gives] consistently and according to what is expected. When we plan the budget we know that the EU will pay. We thank Saudi Arabia, as President [Abbas] said at the Seventh Fatah Conference, and we thank Algeria. These are the countries that actually support our budget.” Click to view videoClick to view bulletin

Headline: "Growth of 60% in income and drop of over 40% in the deficit - Bashara: The foreign aid has decreased by 70% in five years"
"[PA] Minister of Finance [and Planning] Shukri Bishara announced that the foreign aid to the PA coffers has decreased by about 70% in the last five years. Bishara said yesterday during his meeting with representatives of the donor states that in this period a rise of more than 60% in all income and a drop of more than 40% in the deficit has taken place, despite the drop in aid."Click to view bulletin

Headline: “The [PA] Minister of Finance signed an agreement for 8 million euro in aid to the budget with the French consul”
“Yesterday [Nov. 16, 2016], [PA] Minister of Finance and Planning Shukri Bishara signed an agreement for 8 million euro in aid to the budget with French Consul-General in Jerusalem Pierre Cochard. This was done during the annual talks between the sides that were held at the headquarters of the Palestinian Institute for Public Finance and Taxes in Ramallah."

Headline: "Abu Shahla: The [PA] government is under heavy economic pressure, and the international aid is shrinking"
"[PA] Minister of Labor Ma'moun Abu Shahla discussed yesterday [Nov. 1, 2016] with Chinese Ambassador to the State of Palestine Chen Xingzhong methods of cooperation between the two sides…
Abu Shahla noted that there are 400,000 unemployed, most of them young and university graduates - in other words approximately 32% are unemployed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank - whom the Palestinian [PA] government cannot employ at a time when the private sector is weak and fragile…
Abu Shahla said: 'The Palestinian government is under heavy economic pressure and the international aid is shrinking; in 2015 we expected to receive $1.3 billion, but we received $700 million. In 2016 we have received until now $300 million.' He noted that at the moment, the government is relying on taxes, levies, and the tax monies [that Israel collects for it], and it is barely paying the employees' salaries."

Headline: “The prisoners’ institutions: The occupation arrested 436 citizens last August”
“Institutions dealing with prisoners’ affairs – the [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs, the [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association – revealed yesterday, Monday [Oct. 3, 2016], that… the number of prisoners in the occupation’s prisons stands at 7,000 prisoners including 59 female prisoners, of which 12 are female minors, while the number of children stands at approximately 350 children in the Megiddo and Ofer Prisons. The number of administrative detainees stands at 7,000 prisoners, and in September [2016] 112 administrative detention orders were issued, including 44 new orders.”

Headline: “The PA has collected 76% of the expected revenue during the current year”
“Figures that were published by the [PA] Ministry of Finance showed that the state treasury has collected 8.5 billion [Israeli] shekels in revenue from the beginning of the current year until the end of the month of August [2016], which constitutes 76% of all the expected revenue in the 2016 budget…
The overall amount of foreign aid that the PA aspires to in the 2016 budget is 3.8 billion shekels, but the figures of the Ministry of Finance showed that the state treasury has only received 53% of the expected aid during the current year, and this was after eight months of the year had already passed.
From the Ministry of Finance’s figures it becomes clear that the state treasury, by the end of this August, reached 2.05 billion shekels, while the forecast for the 2016 budget stands at approximately 3.88 billion shekels.
The figures show that by the end of August 1.8 billion shekels had reached the PA coffers from the Arab grants, in other words 61.6% of the overall forecast for the current year, while the other contributing countries had given only 1.22 billion shekels by the end of August.”

Headline: “Al-Malki: There is a large decline in aid to the PA, which is estimated to be 70% compared to last year”
“In everything connected to support of the State of Palestine’s budget, [PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad] Al-Malki replied that there are headings connected to support of the budget, and there are detailed clauses that have been formulated that are connected to the mechanisms of the aid. He praised the decision that emphasizes the need to provide an Arab security net of an estimated $100,000,000 a month to the State of Palestine so that it will be able to deal with the pressures and the financial hardships, and to support the Al-Aqsa and Intifada Fund (established by the Arab league after the outbreak of the second Intifada - the PA terror campaign 2000-2005 –Ed.). He said: ‘The decisions that were ratified are important, but at the moment a mechanism is required for the implementation of the financial decisions, because the current Palestinian financial situation is difficult, and there is a large reduction in foreign aid to the PA, which is estimated at 70% compared to last year [2015] or the year before it. Therefore we must seek new solutions, for some of which we return to the Arab home that adopts the Palestinian cause, in order to request aid in these difficult conditions.”Click to view bulletin

PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Malki made these statements after participating in a meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Arab League.

Headline: “Hamdallah updates a German delegation on the obstacles the occupation is placing in front of the economic development”
“[PA] Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah discussed the latest developments in everything related to cooperation, especially in the fields of economy and development, and particularly in the areas called ‘Area C’ (i.e., areas of the West Bank under full Israeli control), with a German delegation led by Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Thomas Silberhorn today (Tuesday) [Aug. 30, 2016]…
He emphasized that the decrease in foreign aid by a rate of 70% compared to previous years greatly influenced the ability of the government to implement development projects and advance the national economy. He called to make more efforts, especially by Germany, in order to encourage the donor countries to stand by their obligations.”